This is probably the reason why there are so few readers out there

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Wordeater

I was staying with a friend once, whose 8 y.o. son was reading well below where he ought to have been for his age.
They were having him read for 20 minutes a day in their presence. The kid fought them all the way around it. Their reason for 'forcing' him to read, was that it was important for him to improve in order to get better grades.
I explained to their son that improving his reading would allow him to read material that he WANTED to read. To this point, reading had simply been a chore for him. He couldn't even imagine that someone would read 'cause they wanted to!

It will be no surprise to you that the mother and father read less than maybe a couple of books a year, between them. They just don't get it.

My SO's older brother was a voracious reader. His wife was not. When Dad came home from work, he'd plunk himself down in front of the TV till dinner was ready.

Guess what example his two sons followed? (I once watched the older son go into a trance as soon as the TV was turned on.)

Dad never quite got why his kids weren't into reading...

I don't remember not knowing how to read. Mom read to me every night when I was a small child, and I got the idea of what was going on well before I could actually do it myself. I've always read everything that didn't read me first, and a lot that did, and I know where I got the habit.

Want kids to read for pleasure? Set an example, starting when they are very young. Kids are like the young of all species: they don't do what you say - they imitate what they see you do.
______
Dennis

[sakura-panda]

It's a running joke in our house that one of my husband's genes is the TV watching one -- if there is a TV in the room, he is glued to it. Also, that our kids obviously all inherited that gene from him.

I grew up in a house where the tv was on nearly 24 hours a day -- my dad would love nothing better than to just sit and watch tv all day and he has never been much of a reader. My tv is on all the time too, and we have a DVD player in our family car, with a selection of DVDs.

I do not know if my kids have ever seen me read -- I usually read out of their sight, and now that I have an ebook reader, I've stopped buying physical books.

My kids do prefer tv over books, but I also believe they will grow up to be readers. We have a very large selection of children's books at their fingertips, as well as new ones popping up all of the time, often with their help selecting them. We often browse books when we're in the store shopping for new movies or CDs (they are usually in adjoining aisles), go to bookstores whenever we pass one (often at their request) including (or maybe especially) when we are on vacation. (That's how my oldest discovered first the Michigan Chiller and then the American Chiller books -- on vacation and browsing at a bookstore in Mackinaw City.)

I think we spend just as much money on books for the kids as we do DVDs for them to watch.

I believe that having so many books available to them, as well as a willingness to read to them, encouraging them to read, and helping them find books that they want to read is what will hold their interest, despite the lure of the shiny tv. Books are more accessible too, since TV watching is limited to the availability of a single resource; no matter how many shows you have, only one can be "used" at a time.

I will accept that if I was not a reader, the story might be completely different. Even my husband not only read a book for fun for the first time in his life after we married, but he has also purchased a complete series on his own without any input or suggestions from me. (I had no idea he had picked it up until the second or third volume showed up. He was at Target by himself buying a CD when the latest book caught his eye, and seeing that it was part of a series, bought the first book along with his CD. I wouldn't call him a reader yet, but I'm encouraged that he was open to the idea and didn't just ignore it since it was a book.)

[GA Russell]

Welcome, and thanks Pitter Pat!

[JMyers]

I think reading is falling in popularity. I am proud to say both my boys are readers. My older son now 19 would not pick up a book to save his life then when he was in 5th grade he picked up the first Harry Potter book and that summer read through 4 books of the series. He insisted I pre-order the books before they released and would read them in no time! Now he is into Star Trek and can't get his fill. My younger son who is 11 also loves to read and write. He has written many stories. One thing we will never refuse our boys are books!!!!!!! I don't care what they read (well YKWIM) as long as they read!!!!!

[MrsJoseph]

Originally Posted by kindlekitten

I would have been on the phone to child services in a New York second!

Honestly, we should have.

[Freeshadow]

horrific - kind of a modern equivalent of "cripple 'em, so they 'll collect more while begging" *shrug*

[silasgreenback]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

Want kids to read for pleasure? Set an example, starting when they are very young. Kids are like the young of all species: they don't do what you say - they imitate what they see you do.
______
Dennis

That's the long and short of it.

When I was a boy, either of my parents were into a book at any given time and it was a behavior I wanted to emulate. My dad often had a paperback with a cover that appealed to my imagination and made me eager to move on from Little Golden Books. Because of those influences, learning to advance my reading skills wasn't a chore.

As an aside, this topic has me wondering about the sort of influence shows like Reading Rainbow have had on kids who would otherwise not be exposed to reading at all. I'd wager that LeVar Burton has done society more of a favor than we know or could measure.

[Latinandgreek]

I buy my nieces and nephew books whenever I get a chance. I also love to take my niece to the library whenever I go out to visit her, and I make it a point to show her all the books I loved when I was her age. So far, it seems to have whetted their interest in reading. I make sure to get them books that interest them, of course. For example, my niece asked me about Cleopatra last time I visited, so I told her "Instead of me telling you about her, why don't we go to the library and see what we can find out?"

[taming]

My son was raised in a house full of books. I read to him every night and we went to the library every Saturday morning. He had magazine subscriptions of his own, beginning with Sesame Street and ending with Baseball Digest. The TV was seldom turned on. As an adult (he's 35) he has never read a book for pleasure.

[MrsJoseph]

Originally Posted by silasgreenback

That's the long and short of it.

When I was a boy, either of my parents were into a book at any given time and it was a behavior I wanted to emulate. My dad often had a paperback with a cover that appealed to my imagination and made me eager to move on from Little Golden Books. Because of those influences, learning to advance my reading skills wasn't a chore.

As an aside, this topic has me wondering about the sort of influence shows like Reading Rainbow have had on kids who would otherwise not be exposed to reading at all. I'd wager that LeVar Burton has done society more of a favor than we know or could measure.

Reading Rainbow! That was good children's programming!

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by silasgreenback

That's the long and short of it.

When I was a boy, either of my parents were into a book at any given time and it was a behavior I wanted to emulate. My dad often had a paperback with a cover that appealed to my imagination and made me eager to move on from Little Golden Books. Because of those influences, learning to advance my reading skills wasn't a chore.

I got convinced of the notion years back, during dinner with a group at an SF convention. The topic of declining literacy came up. I asked "How many of you had parents who read to you when you were young?" Every hand was raised.

Mom was a voracious reader, and read to me. Dad had been, but stopped before I was old enough to notice, and mostly confined his reading to newspapers. OTOH, he was partly responsible for my love of SF. He read SF when younger, and there were SF books lying around the house. I think the first SF I read was the Healey and McComas "Adventures in Time and Space" anthology (the second hardcover SF collection published) when I was around ten years old.
I didn't understand all of it, but the sense of wonder came through in force.

As an aside, this topic has me wondering about the sort of influence shows like Reading Rainbow have had on kids who would otherwise not be exposed to reading at all. I'd wager that LeVar Burton has done society more of a favor than we know or could measure.

We can certainly hope so. For too many folks, reading is a chore, done because they have to. They never learned to see it as fun, and don't do it unless required to. Anything that gives kids the idea that reading can be for pleasure is a good thing.
______
Dennis

[Jar Jar Binks]

I recieved a wonderful Christmas Gift.
I found out my oldest son at least likes to read. YAY
His Father didn't influence things as much as I thought.
Jar Jar Binks
One Down 2 to go.

[Latinandgreek]

Originally Posted by Jar Jar Binks

I recieved a wonderful Christmas Gift.
I found out my oldest son at least likes to read. YAY
His Father didn't influence things as much as I thought.
Jar Jar Binks
One Down 2 to go.

Congratulations! I'm sure the other two will follow!

[Fayth]

Opposite of my parents... My parents bought me Lord of the Rings for Christmas when I was 10 and told me that its okay if I wasn't able to read it, because I was probably too young for it. Naturally, they knew my personality enough to know that a statement like that would make me HAVE to read them.

[boxcorner]

Originally Posted by Fayth

Opposite of my parents... My parents bought me Lord of the Rings for Christmas when I was 10 and told me that its okay if I wasn't able to read it, because I was probably too young for it. Naturally, they knew my personality enough to know that a statement like that would make me HAVE to read them.

That old ruse worked in our family, too.